


precious and fragile things

by Fiannly



Category: Frozen (2013), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Soul Bond, Soulmates, elzel, ladies in charge, pelsa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-15 18:56:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3458147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiannly/pseuds/Fiannly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The voice of a soulmate can vary in volume and clarity, and when your soulmate dies, their voice feels cold in your head, if you can even hear it at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	precious and fragile things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iridescent-nonreality](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=iridescent-nonreality).



> Beta and handholding by Eloiserummaging.
> 
> Inspired by iridescent-nonreality's tumblr prompt: I HAD AN IDEA: SOULMATE AU WHERE THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD IS YOUR SOULMATE'S VOICE. I AM A GENIUS.

The voice of a soulmate can vary in volume and clarity, and when your soulmate dies, their voice feels cold in your head, if you can even hear it at all. Elsa has read about the phenomenon, has heard about it once, before the gates closed, from one of the staff who lost her husband.

Even at the worst times, the times when she hoped her soulmate would never find her, the voice in her head has always been warm, inviting like the sun in her perpetual winter. From her research, she knows it’s yet another thing different about her. 

She never told her parents. Mother would smile sadly whenever soulmates were mentioned, and Elsa learned early that it was best to not talk about it. Instead she listened to Father’s lessons and followed everything he taught her so she could be the best Queen for her people.

-

“Anna, can we not do this right now?” Elsa asks.

Anna looks like she’s going to argue, then deflates, “Fine. Excuse me.”

Elsa watches Anna disappear into the crowd and tells herself it’s for the best. 

Kai gets her attention as he guides a dignitary toward her, and Elsa pulls the air of Queen back over herself, just like her father taught her.

_A Queen is untouchable, regal at all times._

“Princess Rapunzel, and Eugene Fitzherbert,” Kai announces.

"Your majesty," Princess Rapunzel says as she curtsies, “Congratulations on your coronation.”

Elsa’s carefully welcoming smile slips off her face at the sound of Princess Rapunzel’s voice, and pure willpower stops her from taking a step backwards to put more space between them. Her hands are folded together and she clenches them tight, takes comfort that there isn’t the feel of ice stiffening her gloves. _Don’t feel._

Princess Rapunzel’s expression turns worried, and they are both staring now as they rise, unsure thanks to her behavior. She can’t avoid speaking much longer; she’s already being rude.

Her soulmate, the warmth in her head, is Princess Rapunzel. 

"Thank you," Elsa finally says, hearing the tremble in the last word.

Princess Rapunzel's mouth drops open in shock, “You’re alive.”

“What?” Elsa asks, taken aback.

Rapunzel claps her hand over her mouth, “I’m sorry, that was rude of me.”

The closest guests at the party are taking notice, and from the looks on the faces of a few, they’re realizing what they’re witnessing. Most find their soulmates in their early teens, if there’s a soulmate alive to find. Elsa isn’t oblivious to the gossip among her people about how the kingdom’s Princesses haven’t found their soulmates because the gates have been kept closed.

“We should take this somewhere private,” Elsa says quickly, and despite wanting to run from the room, she forces herself to keep a calm pace, nothing more hurried than the walk of a Queen who has business to attend to. Rapunzel and Eugene keep pace behind her, and thankfully they don’t try to talk on the short walk to Elsa’s private sitting rooms. She would rather Eugene remain outside, but it would be inappropriate of her to ask, and thus to question the loyalty of Princess Rapunzel’s guard.

She doesn’t have to worry. At the door, Rapunzel says, “Stay here, Eugene, please,” and he nods to her, then stands with his back straight and arms folded behind him, watching the hall.

Then they’re alone together, and Rapunzel’s eyes are wide. Elsa waits for her to say something, but she seems to be tongue-tied, and all of the etiquette Elsa has been taught about soulmate first meetings has flown out of her reach like so many snowflakes in the wind.

“What did you mean, I’m alive?” Elsa ventures.

“It always felt cold in my head,” Rapunzel says, “Your voice is there, but quiet, like a wind is muffling the words.”

Elsa tries to avoid imagining how hard it must have been for Rapunzel to think her soulmate dead. Her control is already in tatters from the argument with Anna, and she’s hanging on by the thinnest of threads. “My thoughts have always been warm. I’ve never found anything in my reading that describes it,” Elsa says.

"I guess we’re a special case,” Rapunzel says with a smile.

Elsa can’t help but return it, “I suppose so.”


End file.
